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Qatar’s emir approved laws on Thursday for the Gulf Arab state’s first legislative election in October when Qataris will elect two-thirds of the advisory Shura Council, his office said. The election, plans for which were first approved in a 2003 constitutional referendum, is being held before the capital Doha hosting …

Hundreds of people blocked traffic in the centre of Slovak capital Bratislava, protesting against a law that gives those who have had the COVID-19 vaccine easier access to public events and spaces, Slovak media reported on Thursday. The law, which requires people who haven’t been inoculated to take a test …

The death toll has risen to 99 from floods that hit a province in central China last week, authorities said on Thursday. No details on who they were or how they died were provided in initial state media reports. The city of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, was hit …

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin faced calls to resign on Thursday from the opposition and the biggest bloc in the ruling coalition, after a rare rebuke by the king over the government’s handling of emergency ordinances. Muhyiddin’s government said earlier this week that on July 21 it had revoked all …

Hundreds of Eritrean refugees protested in the Ethiopian capital on Thursday, calling on the United Nations refugee agency to relocate friends and family who they say are trapped in two refugee camps by fighting in the Tigray region. Clashes between armed groups have escalated in and around the camps – …

Torrential monsoon rains have ruined the sprawling camps of Rohingya Muslim refugees in southern Bangladesh, turning settlements into fast-flowing rivers overnight and leaving thousands of refugees without shelter. On Wednesday alone, over 30 centimeters of rain fell on the camps in Cox’s Bazar district, which is home to more than …

The warnings, issued for the US states of Alaska and Hawaii, the US Pacific territory of Guam, were later cancelled. The tsunami warnings issued across the Pacific Ocean after a shallow earthquake of magnitude 8.2 struck the Alaska Peninsula have been lifted. The quake struck at 10:15 pm on Wednesday …

Three people were found dead as a massive forest fire burned for a second day in southern Turkey on Thursday, the country’s AFAD disaster agency and agriculture minister said, with efforts to rescue others and extinguish the blaze continuing. More than 100 other people had to be evacuated, required medical …

Afghan villagers searched desperately for survivors after a flash flood swept down a narrow valley in a Taliban-controlled area, killing at least 40 people and destroying dozens of houses in the early hours of Thursday morning, officials said. Getting reliable information was difficult, according to Afghan officials, as the Kamdesh …

US activists have laid body bags in front of the Facebook’s offices in Washington DC in protest against coronavirus misinformation that has been spread on the US social media platform. The group calling itself “The Real Facebook Oversight Board” (RFOB), tweeted that, “We placed body bags in front of Facebook …

Senior Russian and American officials have restarted talks on nuclear arms control and other strategic issues in an attempt to normalize fraught bilateral relations between the world’s largest nuclear weapons powers with a focus on risk reduction. In a follow-up to last month’s meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and …

France said on Thursday it failed to understand why it was exempt from a new rule allowing fully-vaccinated European Union citizens to enter England without having to quarantine. From next week, travelers fully jabbed with a vaccine approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency …

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has questioned the United States’ rationale behind the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 by stressing that the Americans “really messed it up in Afghanistan.” “I think the US has really messed it up in Afghanistan,” Imran Khan said in an interview with PBS News Hour …

Russia has denounced the United States’ ongoing talks with Afghanistan’s neighboring countries to create military bases as well as centers for refugees, saying Washington is seeking to take root in Central Asia following its withdrawal from the war-ravaged country, where it has faced a complete failure. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu …

The United Nations Refugee Agency has voiced concern about the situation of refugees in Ethiopia, as an armed conflict worsens in the Horn of Africa country. The UNHCR said on Tuesday that it was concerned about the 24,000 Eritrean refugees in two camps in the Tigray region, saying they were …

Armenia said on Wednesday that three of its soldiers had been killed in an exchange of gunfire with Azerbaijan and both sides later accepted a Russian ceasefire proposal to try to calm tensions. Armenia’s defense ministry said in a statement that Azeri forces had attacked Armenian positions near the border …

“The biggest threat would be any potential tsunami risk,” a USGS geophysicist said. Tsunami warnings were issued for parts of Alaska after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 struck off the peninsula’s coast early Thursday. The tremblor struck around 50 miles south of Perryville, a small town of …

Beginning July 30, Walt Disney World in Florida will begin requiring attendees to wear face masks, as the US state sees a rise in COVID-19 cases. The new rules will apply to all guests aged two and up while indoors and using public transport facilities in the park, regardless of …

Paraguay seized more than 3,400 kilos of cocaine near the capital city of Asuncion as it was being stashed in a load of sugar for international shipment, police said on Wednesday, calling it the country’s biggest-ever drug bust. National Police Commander Luis Arias told reporters that the illegal stimulant, made …

Lithuania’s border guard service said it detained 171 people caught illegally crossing from Belarus into Lithuania on Tuesday night, the largest number in a single day in 2021 and bringing the total number of migrants detained so far this year to 3,027. The border service said the group of migrants, …